42/42
In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the U.S. Army sends a company of volunteers to patrol the uncharted western territories. Minervini has the set built in Montana and lets the cast live there for two months. The dialogue and thoughts expressed are those the actors created while living in the wilderness imagining being soldiers in the Civil War. The Damned: In the winter of 1862, a volunteer unit of Union soldiers is sent to defend the mountainous territory; we are not told where it is, nor do we learn the names of the soldiers. After the regular troops leave, they are under the command of a John Brown-esque patriarch with a flowing beard; his teenage sons have also enlisted. The troops are a mixed group, some middle-aged, even old, most in their thirties. All lacking military experience, they share knowledge and skills that are transferred. We witness mobile sentries, gunfire at distant cavalrymen. A buffalo is shot and slaughtered. The desolate landscape, rolling hills, mountain meadows, falling snow, cold rations running out, all contribute to a growing sense of existential despair. A battle rages, we don’t see the enemy, we see the casualties of the unit. War is hell, especially when you don’t know why you’re there anymore. A very Ken Loach-esque film, with no defined day-to-day dialogue and lots of ordinary people acting, amateurs like the soldiers. This improvisation leads to philosophical, religious and political discussions around campfires. Some of which overstay their welcome. But it’s a small distraction from this stark portrait of men at war. Written and directed by Roberto Minervini, 8/10.